Counter-visualizing Ireland: Redmondite Home Rule in Sinn Féin’s Editorial Cartoons

This article explores the efforts of the Sinn Féin activists in Arthur Griffith’s circle to define Irish citizenship as an active, nation-building duty rather than the relatively passive electoral and financial support demanded by the Irish Parliamentary Party in the period 1909-11. As the success of the IPP's Westminster strategy became increasingly harder to ignore, illustrator and designer Austin Molloy counter-attacked for Sinn Féin with dramatic visual representations of John Redmond as a naïve and bumbling shyster maintaining power and generating operational funds by making outlandish promises while being manipulated by more seasoned British parliamentarians. Focusing on key propaganda images from the period via the critical visual culture framework established by Nicholas Mirzoeff, I will consider the work of Molloy and Griffith as a concerted 'counter-visualisation' of the mainstream status quo visualised and promoted by the IPP.

Comparing Isaac Butt and John Redmond

Redmond is traditionally associated with Charles Stewart Parnell, whom he replaced at the head of the small Parnellite faction following the split of the Irish Parliamentary Party in 1890. More recently Redmond has been compared to Edward Carson in an attempt to highlight that, despite being political opponents, both men also shared much in common. Redmond might have succeeded Parnell as one of the senior figures of the Irish Home Rule movement and yet historians concur that he ‘did not resemble his erstwhile hero and mentor […] either in his power or in his style of leadership’. Beyond the question of leadership and political clout, it may also be suggested that Parnell was not the only figure that played an influence in shaping Redmond’s ideas and discourse. In a 2014 paper, Colin Reid contended that ‘[w]hile the Parnellite strand of John Redmond’s political leanings has received considerable attention in recent years, his Buttite inheritance remains to be explored by historians, shaping as it did his conciliatory rhetoric, imperial sensibilities and openness to a federalist solution’. Our proposed paper intends to further explore this suggestion and compare Isaac Butt and John Redmond. Personal lives, historiography and the questions of Home Rule, federalism and empire will be focused upon.

‘We’ll Make Our Own Rules’: Postcolonial Cinematic Reclamations of Irish Revolutionary History'

This paper analyzes Neil Jordan’s Michael Collins’ (1996) functionality as a post-colonial national Irish enterprise and its establishment of a ‘sovereign’ cinematic identity through representations of the struggle for Home Rule. A film made “by Ireland, for Ireland,” Michael Collins exists within the canon of ‘ceasefire cinema’ and remains a landmark in Irish film history because of its historical content, international interest, and enormous Irish investment in its production. Notably, however, it was also immensely controversial; in the United Kingdom, for instance, many critics argued that Jordan’s work would incite nationalist violence in the midst of a fragile ceasefire. Additionally, because of the involvement of American production companies and American actors, many questioned the authenticity behind the aforementioned claim of Irish authenticity. Thus, these factors and responses beg the questions: ‘how can a film claim to be representative of a country’s identity, historical trauma, and struggles for autonomy if it is the result of another?’ and ‘does the depiction of colonial violence serve to redeem or abet?’ This paper will employ Michael Collins as a vehicle to explore these questions as well as the complex natures of Irish cultural and historical autonomy and post-colonial cinematic identities.

The Gaelic Athletic Association and Home Rule

When Michael Cusack founded the Gaelic Athletic Association in 1884, the political debate in Ireland was dominated by Home Rule. The creation of the GAA may have found inspiration in the growing nationalist movement led by Charles Stewart Parnell, but the Irish Parliamentary Party may also have been bolstered by the sporting organisation’s ideal of reviving the national identity through the preservation of its traditional games. The GAA undoubtedly conferred legitimacy on the political movement which peaked in December 1885 with a wide electoral success and then with the introduction of the first Home Rule Bill. But Home Rule did not exactly mean the same in sport as in politics. Even though Michael Cusack was not hostile to power sharing with the unionist leaders of existing athletic associations, the failure of his first attempts to democratise Irish sport led him to defend a more radical position implying total separation from his counterparts under British supervision. The Home Rule movement certainly benefited from the GAA’s nationalist and cultural stance to develop Irish consciousness. But the likelihood of self-government was compromised by the own image of the GAA’s administration whose sectarianism and internal disputes over its political nature could hardly convince unionists of their interest to agree with the principle of Home Rule.

Pooling, Gaining or Losing Sovereignty? Conflicting Definitions of Irish Sovereignty in the Political Discourse on European Integration

This article aims at using the multi-faceted dimensions of the concept of sovereignty as a theoretical framework to better understand the Irish political discourse on European integration and to clarify the changing positions of various actors on the issue, notably in relation to the 2008 financial crisis. First, the article reminds the reader of the various definitions of sovereignty and how the old Westphalian definition has been recently challenged by international law and international relations scholars who consider the impact of globalisation and interdependence on state relations and who therefore question the mere existence of absolute sovereignty in today’s world. In a second part, the study analyses and categorises the arguments used during the referendum campaigns between 1972 and the financial crisis, in order to show how the concept of sovereignty contributed to fostering both pro- and anti-EU treaty positions. The third part will address the consequences of the financial crisis on the positioning of political actors. The debate on Ireland’s sovereignty was reinvigorated by the developments relating to the country’s economic situation and the EU/IMF bail-out package which considerably limited the ability of the government to determine its own economic policies. We will show that the ‘loss of sovereignty’ arguments gained ground among the traditionally pro-integration parties and groups. It reassessed the role of the citizen in legitimizing the decision-making process.

Visualizing the Spirit of Freedom: Performing Irish Women’s Citizenship and Autonomy in Amanda Coogan’s Floats in the Aether

This article examines Amanda Coogan’s Floats in the Aether (2018-19) in relation to ‘home rule’, broadly interpreted to encompass the agitation for Irish women’s citizenship and autonomy. Between November 2018 and January 2019 Irish performance artist Amanda Coogan staged performances with 100 women and girls responding to the exhibition Markievicz: Portraits and Propaganda. This was the first performance artwork commissioned by the National Gallery of Ireland (NGI). The exhibition and Coogan’s commission marked the centenary of women’s suffrage (1918), the election of Constance Markievicz (1868-1927) to British House of Parliament (1918), and the formation of the first Dáil (1919). A revolutionary feminist, socialist and republican, Markievicz was an enigmatic figure who, as an artist, carefully crafted images of herself using performative photography to construct a public persona. Floats in the Aether included secondary school students, the Dublin Theatre of the Deaf, a choir and sitting female parliamentarians including two former Tánaistí, Cabinet Ministers and TDs. This essay argues that Coogan’s performances, situated at the intersection of historical and institutional critiques, offer new perspectives on ‘home rule’ with regards to Irish women’s history, gendered spaces and the struggle for gender equality.

A ‘Triumph of Federalism’? The German Empire in Debates on Irish Home Rule before the First World War

In March 1911, John Redmond published a newspaper article praising the German Empire as ‘the most convincing proof of the triumph of federalism’. While foreign and colonial analogies – ranging from Canada and the United States to Switzerland and Austria-Hungary – had been a regular feature in debates on Irish Home Rule since the 1870s, Redmond’s whole-hearted expression of admiration for constitutional arrangements in Imperial Germany came as a surprise to many contemporaries. Yet it bears witness to a renewed interest in German federalism among Irish nationalists following the granting of ‘Home Rule’ to Alsace-Lorraine in 1911, a development that generated regular comparisons with Ireland’s position within the United Kingdom during the Home Rule crisis of 1912-1914. By exploring the frequent and contested parallels drawn between Ireland (or in some cases Ulster) and Alsace-Lorraine by both unionists and nationalists during this period, this article not only highlights the ambiguities and complexities of Irish views of Germany on the eve of the First World War but also reveals the multiple ways in which the debate on Home Rule, and on federalism within the United Kingdom more generally, were influenced by wider European developments during this period of rising domestic and international tension.

Against British Influences: Home Rule and the Autonomy of Irish Popular Culture in Ireland’s Juvenile Periodicals

This paper aims to analyse a largely uncharted topic, i.e. the representation of Ireland’s struggle for political and cultural self-determination in the nationalist press for Irish youth. In particular, I will examine four papers (Our Boys, Fianna, Young Ireland, and St. Enda’s), which represented the various nuances within the ranks of Irish nationalism. Combining literary and historical interests, I will devote my attention to the editorials and literary contributions published in the 1910s and 1920s to illustrate how these juvenile periodicals engaged their readership in a discussion on the necessity of Home Rule and Ireland’s cultural independence. Textual attention to the rhetorical and literary strategies adopted by the contributors helps to expose the nuances and shifts in the Irish nationalists’ view on the issue, and how nationalist ideas were repackaged for a youthful audience. Moreover, since the four papers were meant as home-grown substitutes for the examples of British popular culture such as the Boys’ Own Paper, their analysis will cast light on the nationalists’ yearning for the development and success of truly Irish popular culture among the youngsters. The Irish periodicals waged a battle against their British counterparts — a battle which Ireland’s youth was incited to fight.

Book Review Section

Review Section

Opening Materials

Review of Irish Studies in EuropeVolume 3 Issue 2The Home Rule Crisis